In a rolling line, it is frequently desirable to provide an apparatus for braking the rolled product from the relatively high velocity at which it is rolled and for delivering that product to a cooling bed at an interface between the rolling line and the cooling bed.
Before a finish-rolled and subdivided rolled product, usually at a desired length can be allowed to pass onto the cooling bed or even to be transferred to a collecting system for gathering the successive lengths of rolled products, it is important that the rolled product be brought to standstill. Only after the product has been brought to standstill is it possible to transfer the rolled product to the cooling bed effectively or to the collection unit or to enable the product to slide into the next available seat in a cooling bed. Since rolled products of different dimensions are produced in a rolling line, one cannot exclude the possibility that successive lengths of rolled product may have different velocities in the rolling line and may arrive at the braking apparatus at different velocities.
Nevertheless in each case and independently of the length of the rolled product or the speed at which the braking device encounters it, the rolled product must be brought to standstill before it is transferred to the cooling bed or the collecting unit or permitted to slide onto a straightening grate which may be located ahead of that cooling bed or collecting unit.
The apparatus which has hitherto been provided for such braking and rolled product transfer has usually been equipped with so-called transverse conveyor rollers which receive the rolled product from the rolls of the rolling line and feed the rolled product transverse to the transport direction onto the cooling bed.
In a braking region turned toward the cooling bed the transverse conveyors are arranged to brake the rolled product before the rolled product at standstill is deposited by the transverse conveyors onto the cooling bed.
A braking chute, especially for braking rod-shaped rolled products, has been described in German Democratic Republic Patent DD-PS 142 157. The braking force is here generated by electromagnetic or permanent magnets. The braking action of this system, however, has an effect upon the rolling process since the length of the braking path is a function of the weight and speed of the rolled product.
If, for example, the rolled product is too massive and the rolling speed is high, the braking path required to bring it to standstill may exceed the capacity of this type of braking unit and thus the braking unit can impose limits on the products rolled and the operating conditions in the rolling line.